Through a hardware virtualization technology, one or more virtual machines are virtualized in one physical host, so that several or dozens of virtual machines can share hardware resources of the physical host. Cloud computing is an important application scenario of the hardware virtualization technology. The cloud computing refers to a delivery and utilization mode of an information technology infrastructure, and a user obtains needed resources in a demand-based and easily-extensible manner through a network. The cloud computing is also popularized as a delivery and utilization mode of a service, and users obtain a needed service in a demand-based and easily-extensible manner through the network. The core idea of the cloud computing is that, a large amount of resources connected through the network (resources herein include storage resources, computing resources, and various application software) are uniformly managed and scheduled, thereby forming a resource pool to provide a service for the user according to demands. The network providing resources is referred to as “cloud.”
In a cloud computing scenario, and in a case that the “cloud” allocates, according to an application of the user, one virtual machine for the user to use, if the user wants to install application software in the virtual machine, an installation process includes that:
after starting the virtual machine and entering the operating system, the user manually triggers connection of a browser or a client tool to a resource server which can provide the application software, and requests downloading the application software; after downloading the application software from the resource server, the virtual machine performs installation; or
after the user starts the virtual machine, an operating system of the virtual machine runs a resources updating client automatically in background mode, the client sends an online prompt message to the resource server, and after receiving the online prompt message, the resource server pushes the application software to the virtual machine according to a previously configured push policy.
In a process of implementing the present disclosure, the inventor finds that the prior art at least has the following problems: the browser or the client tool needs to be installed in the virtual machine in advance to obtain the application software which needs to be installed. Further, for how to select a safe and proper version and installation package of the application software, it is required that the user has better information technology knowledge and skills. Therefore, in the prior art, problems of operation complexity and high implementation difficulty in an installation process of the application software exist.